The White House said this morning: "Just as families and businesses around the nation have tightened their belts so must their government." This kind of thing sounds pious, humble, and good, but it is complete nonsense. We should all share the pain, or something, and this is supposed to help, somehow.
Why, after all, "must" the government balance its budget? Can anyone tell us what a balanced budget would accomplish in the way of economic recovery?
No, they can't because it doesn't help at all. A balanced budget in a time of recession only feeds that recession by laying people off and withdrawing money from circulation. It makes matters worse, not better.
Balancing the budget during a recession, throwing more people out of work, cutting wages for those who still do, amounts to economic malpractice. The deficit hawks talked FDR into cutting the budget in 1937, which resulted in the only year of FDR's presidency in which unemployment went up.
These feel-good pious bromides are a thin and pale substitute for actually doing something about jobs and the economy. If the White House is slinging this pathetic pablum to the public, it's a sign that (1) perhaps they really believe it, contrary to what we've learned over the past 80 years, or (2) they don't know what they're doing.
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